


A Catalog of Satellites

by MrToddWilkins (orphan_account)



Series: Space stuff [8]
Category: Space - Fandom
Genre: Catalog, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2020-04-19
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:08:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 34
Words: 17,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21906862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MrToddWilkins
Series: Space stuff [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1224371





	1. Sputnik 1

Designation/ | 00002 /1957Alpha2/ 57001B  
---|---  
Launch date | 04 Oct 1957 - 19:28:34 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Sputnik 8K71PS (#M1-1PS)  
Satellite type |  PS-1 (#1)  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Earth orbit on 4 Oct 1957 - 19:12 (.80)  
Perigee/Apogee | 215 x 939 km  
Eccentricity |  0.052  
Inclination | 65,1°  
Period | 

96.2 min  
  
**First artificial earth satellite ever launched, transmitted during 21 days**   
Pressurized sphere made of aluminum of 58 cm diameter with 4 antennas. Its 2 radio transmitters send signals during 21 days. It enabled propagation and ionospherical studies.

The Sputnik 1 spacecraft was the first artificial satellite successfully placed in orbit around the Earth and was launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome at Tyuratam (370 km southwest of the small town of Baikonur) in Kazakhstan, then part of the former Soviet Union. The Russian word "Sputnik" means "companion" ("satellite" in the astronomical sense).

In 1885 Konstantin Tsiolkovsky first described in his book, Dreams of Earth and Sky, how such a satellite could be launched into a low altitude orbit. It was the first in a series of four satellites as part of the Sputnik program of the former Soviet Union and was planned as a contribution to the International Geophysical Year (1957-1958). Three of these satellites (Sputnik 1, 2, and 3) reached Earth orbit.

The Sputnik 1 satellite was a 58.0 cm-diameter aluminum sphere that carried four whip-like antennas that were 2.4-2.9 m long. The antennas looked like long "whiskers" pointing to one side. The spacecraft obtained data pertaining to the density of the upper layers of the atmosphere and the propagation of radio signals in the ionosphere. The instruments and electric power sources were housed in a sealed capsule and included transmitters operated at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz (about 15 and 7.5 m in wavelength), the emissions taking place in alternating groups of 0.3 s in duration. The downlink telemetry included data on temperatures inside and on the surface of the sphere.

Since the sphere was filled with nitrogen under pressure, Sputnik 1 provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection (no such events were reported), since losses in internal pressure due to meteoroid penetration of the outer surface would have been evident in the temperature data. The satellite transmitters operated until 25 Oct, when the on-board chemical batteries ran out, and were monitored with intense interest around the world. The orbit of the then inactive satellite was later observed optically to decay 92 days after launch (January 4, 1958) after having completed about 1400 orbits of the Earth over a cumulative distance traveled of 70 million kilometers. The orbital apogee declined from 947 km after launch to 600 km by Dec. 9th.

The Sputnik 1 rocket booster also reached Earth orbit and was visible from the ground at night as a first magnitude object, while the small but highly polished sphere barely visible at sixth magnitude more difficult to follow optically.  
  


### Sputnik origins:

  * The first Soviet satellite to be launched was the 1-tonne "Object D". But delays that occured during 1956 prompted Korolev to ordered, on 25 November 1956, a young engineer at OKB-1, Nikolay Kutyrkin, to begin designing a new smaller satellite. Another young man, Georgiy Grechko (a twenty-six-year-old engineer who would fly into space from the same site eighteen years later), set about calculating preliminary ballistics on the launch. On January 5, 1957, Korolev asked for permission to launch two small satellites, each with a mass of forty to fifty kilograms, during the period of April-June 1957, that is immediately prior to the beginning of the International Geophysical Year. Each satellite would orbit Earth at attitudes of 225 to 500 kilometers and contain a simple shortwave transmitter with a power source sufficient for ten days of operation.
  * By January 25, 1957, Korolev had approved the initial design details of the satellite officially designated the Simple Satellite No. 1 (PS-1). On February 15, the USSR Council of Ministers formally signed a decree (no. 171-835s) titled "On Measures to Carry out in the International Geophysical Year," agreeing to the new proposal. The two new satellites, PS-1 and PS-2, would weigh approximately 100 kilograms and be launched in April-May 1957, after one or two fully successful R-7 ICBM launches. Meanwhile, the Object D launch was pushed back to April 1958. In the summer, Korolev, Glushko, and the other chief designers had informally targeted the satellite launch for the 100th anniversary of Tsiolkovskiy's birth on September 17th.

### Mission details:

  * 1 Oct 1957: R-7 rocket complete with PS-1 satellite rolled out to the launch pad
  * 4 Oct 1957: World first artificial satellite Sputnik' launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Sputnik (R-7) rocket into 215 x 939 kilometre orbit at 65.1 degrees inclination
  * 12 Oct 1957: Following the success of Sputnik, Soviet leader Nikita Khruschev instructs Korolyov team to produce a more-impressive mission to mark the 40th anniversary of the Soviet Revolution - work begins on a satellite which will carry a dog, using the backup hardware for PS-1 as a starting point.
  * 25 Oct 1957: Radio transmissions from Sputnik (PS-1) cease when its electrical batteries are exhausted.
  * 04 Jan 1958: Sputnik (PS-1) enters the Earth atmosphere as a result of natural decay of the orbit through air drag, and is destroyed by frictional heating.


	2. Sputnik 2

| Designation | 00003 / 1957Beta1 / 57002A  
---|---  
Launch date | 03 Nov 1957 - 02:30:42 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Sputnik 8K71PS (#M1-2PS)  
Satellite type |  PS-2 (#1)  
Crew |  dog Laika  
Mission | Scientific: Sun observation  
Biological research  
Earth orbit on Nov 3, 1957 - 02:24 (.10)  
Perigee/Apogee | 212 x 1660 km  
Eccentricity |  0.099  
Inclination | 65.33°  
Period | 103.75 min  
  
  
  
  
  
Decay | 14 Apr 1958 - 01:55 (.08)  
---|---  
Lifetime: | 

162 days  
  
### Description:

  * Sputnik 2 was the **first biological spacecraft in orbit around the Earth, carrying a dog**. It was a 4-meter high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters, weighinbg 508.30 kg. It contained several compartments for radio transmitters, a telemetry system, a programming unit, a regeneration and temperature control system for the cabin, and scientific instruments for measuring solar radiation (ultraviolet and x-ray emissions) and cosmic rays. A separate sealed cabin contained the experimental dog Laika, a stray-dog found on the streets of Moscow. A television camera was mounted in the passenger compartment to observe Laika. The camera could transmit 100-line video frames at 10 frames/second. The spacecraft provided data on the behavior of a living organism in the space environment.
  * 03 Nov 1957: Sputnik 2 (PS-2) launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Sputnik (R-7) rocket into 211 x 1659 kilometre orbit at 65.3 degrees inclination with the dog 'Laika' aboard - by design, the dog cabin and instrument unit remain attached to the launching rocket - some thermal insulation comes loose and subjects Laika to high temperatures.
  * 04 Nov 1957: Laika dies through the effects of her cabin aboard Sputnik 2 overheating.
  * 10 Nov 1957: Radio transmissions from Sputnik 2 cease when its electrical batteries are exhausted.
  * 14 Apr 1958: Sputnik 2 enters the Earth atmosphere over the Caribbean Sea as a result of natural decay of the orbit through air drag, and is destroyed by frictional heating.


	3. Vanguard TV-3

Designation |  F00002 / 57F01  
---|---  
Launch date |  06 Dec 1957 - 16:44:35 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle | [ Vanguard TV-3](target=%22_blank%22)  
Mission |  test satellite  
Decay |  06 Dec 1957  
  
### Origins of the Vanguard program:

  * In the spring of 1955, scientific interest in orbiting an artificial earth satellite for International Geophysical Year (1st July 1957 to 31 December 1958) was growing. Several launch vehicle proposals were developed for placing a U.S. satellite in orbit. The proposal chosen in August 1955 to be the U.S. satellite project for the IGY was the one offered by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), based on Milton W. Rosen's concept of a new launch vehicle combining the Viking first Stage, Aerobee second stage, and a new third stage. Rosen became technical director of the new project at NRL.
  * The name "Vanguard" applied to both the first satellite series undertaken by the United States and to the launch vehicle developed to orbit the satellites. It was suggested by Rosen's wife, Josephine. Rosen forwarded the name to his NRL superiors, who approved it. The Chief of Naval Research approved the name 16 September 1956. The word denoted that which is "out ahead, in the forefront."

### Mission details:

  * Vanguard TV3 was the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite into orbit around the Earth. It was a small satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and study the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was to be used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis.
  * At launch the booster ignited and began to rise but about 2 seconds after liftoff, after rising about 1.3m, the Vanguard rocket lost thrust and began to settle back down to the launch pad. As it settled against the launch pad the fuel tanks ruptured and exploded, destroying the rocket and severely damaging the launch pad. The Vanguard satellite was thrown clear and landed on the ground a short distance away with its transmitters still sending out a beacon signal. The satellite was damaged, however, and could not be reused. It is now on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. The exact cause of the accident was never determined, presumably it was due to a fuel leak between the fuel tank and the rocket engine, possibly due to a loose connection in a fuel line or low fuel tank pressure allowing some of the burning fuel in the thrust chamber to leak back into the fuel tank.   
  


——————

Wednesday night's cancellation of the initial attempt to launch TV-3 was followed by an announcement that the field crew would start another countdown late Thursday afternoon with liftoff scheduled for 8 a.m., Friday, 6 December. Speaking at a business meeting in Florida on Thursday, George S. Trimble, Jr., a Martin Company vice president, flatly asserted that the first complete Vanguard vehicle would not succeed in placing its payload in orbit. He based his prediction on "the prevailing mathematics of trial and error." According to these calculations three failures for every seven tries were normal in "this kind of testing experiment." At a news conference in Chicago on the same day the chairman of the IGY committee, Joseph Kaplan, was only a little more optimistic. Cautioning reporters about "risk of failure in tomorrow's shot," he assured them that before the end of the International Geophysical Year on 31 December 1958, the United States "will have a full-fledged earth satellite in orbit." These last-minute efforts to prepare the American people for the worst are of interest in view of the events of the next twenty-four hours.

The second countdown began shortly after 5 p.m. Thursday, approximately on schedule, Shortly thereafter a long hold became necessary because of delays encountered in verifying the operations of the vehicle controls system. Subsequent holds were of short duration and of no significance. By 10:30 Friday morning the countdown had reached T-60 minutes, the beginning of the final and critical phase of the procedure. At this point the big gantry crane began its slow withdrawal, leaving the vehicle standing alone on its flight-launch structure. A weather check, ten minutes later, showed winds of 16 mph at pad level with gusts up to 22 mph. For later Vanguard flight tests, the Martin Company would design a retracting launch stand that permitted the vehicle to lift off in surface winds up to 35 mph; but on 6 December 1957 the original stationary stand was in use and Martin studies had fixed the allowable ground wind for liftoff at only 17 mph. In higher winds the engine nozzle, as it rose from the clearance hole in the platform of the stationary stand, might crash against the surrounding piping. At T-50 minutes, in short, weather conditions were touch-and-go, but otherwise all looked well. At T-45 minutes the electronics telemetering crew in the backroom of the blockhouse began receiving "all clear" signals from the stations of the radio tracking network. Photographers in the employ of Pan American Airlines, responsible for range servicing and general engineering, were busily immortalizing the occasion, snapping pictures of equipment and individuals. At T-30 minutes fierce blasts from the bullfiddle warning horn on the launch pad sent people scurrying from the area. Some retreated to their assigned posts in the blockhouse, others made off in their cars to safely distant points. At T-25 minutes the heavy blockhouse doors clanged shut. The air of tension generated by the busy occupants of the building edged upwards from high in the direction of unbearable. At T-19 minutes the blockhouse lights went out, the "No Smoking" sign blinked on. A report that surface winds were now "fifteen knots" brought a shrug from Dan Mazur. The figure was high, but the trend was downward. Indications were that by liftoff, the wind velocities would be acceptable. At T-5 minutes, propulsion-expert Kurt Stehling detected a "quaver" in the voice of his assistant, Bill Escher, who was counting off the minutes over the public address system. Five minutes later Escher changed the count to seconds. At T-45 seconds, the so-called "umbilical cords" that supply the rocket right up to liftoff began dropping away. At T-1 second test conductor Gray gave the command to fire and Paul Karpiscak, a young Martin engineer, flipped the toggle switch on his oblique instrument panel. In the crowded blockhouse control room all eyes were on the big windows overlooking the pad. Sparks at the base of the rocket signaled that the pyrotechnic igniter inside the first stage had kindled the beginning of the oxygen and kerosene fumes. With a howl the engine started, brilliant white flames swiftly filling the nozzle and building up below it as the vehicle lifted off. The time was 11:44.559 a.m. Two seconds later, a scream escaped someone in the blockhouse control room: "Look out! Oh God, no!" To Kurt Stehling, his gaze on the spectacle outside, it seemed "as if the gates of Hell had opened up." With a series of rumbles audible for miles around, the vehicle, having risen about four feet into the air, suddenly sank. Falling against the firing structure, fuel tanks rupturing as it did so, the rocket toppled to the ground on the northeast or ocean side of the structure in a roaring, rolling, ball-shaped volcano of flame. In the control room someone shouted "Duck!" Nearly everybody did. Then the firecontrol technician pulled the water deluge lever, loosing thousands of gallons of water onto the steaming wreckage outside, and everybody straightened up. The next voice to be heard in the room was that of Mazur, issuing orders: "O.K., clean up; let's get the next rocket ready." Already the stunned crew had taken in a startling fact. As TV-3 crashed into its bed of flame, the payload in its nosecone had leaped clear, landing apart from the rocket. The satellite's transmitters were still beeping, but the little sphere itself would turn out to be too damaged for reuse. It rests today in a file cabinet of the NASA Historical Archives, a battered reminder that "The best laid schemes o' mice an' men/ Gang aft a-gley."

All components of the first stage of the Vanguard vehicle had functioned in a "superior" fashion during the successful launching of TV-2 in October. What had gone wrong with those same components during the flight firing of TV-3? Did the fault lie in the first-stage engine, the X-405 liquid-propellant engine developed by GLM's subcontractor, General Electric? Or did it lie in the other major component of the stage, the tankage built by GLM itself? During TV-3's two seconds of life after liftoff, its onboard telemetry worked. Consequently the General Electric and GLM investigators had on hand a collection of telemetered data concerning the behavior of the rocket that Walsh described as "worth its weight in gold." They also had ground instrumentation records and a series of photographic films of the disaster. Technicians of the two companies studied these, and came up with different answers. The Martin people traced what they called an "improper engine start" directly to a low fuel tank pressure which was responsible for a low fuel injector pressure prior to the start of the turbopump operation. The low injector pressure allowed some of the burning contents of the thrust chamber to enter the fuel system through the injector head. According to this version of the accident, fire started in the fuel injector before liftoff, resulting in destruction of the injector and complete loss of thrust immediately after liftoff. The General Electric investigators dissented. They traced the immediate cause of the explosion to a loose connection in a fuel line above the engine. Their reading of the telemetered and photographic data was that there was no "improper start." On the contrary, the engine had come to full thrust, only to lose thrust when a little leaked fuel on top of a helium vent valve blew down on the engine.

In a remote sense the General Electric investigators held the Martin work crew at fault. They claimed that members of the crew had used the fuel lines as "ladders" while working on the vehicle; hence the loose connection. At a conference attended by representatives of the companies and NRL, Milton Rosen, the project technical director, cut short what gave signs of becoming a heated argument. Conceding unofficially that the cause appeared to be "indeterminate," Rosen said the Project managers would accept GLM's findings. Although GE continued to hold to its position, its spokesmen appreciated the wisdom of Rosen's decision under the circumstances. In the aftermath of the TV-3 catastrophe, the time pressures on Project Vanguard were too severe to permit the luxury of a protracted family quarrel. In accordance with a specification change negotiated with Martin, GE increased the minimum allowable fuel tank pressure head of its engine thirty percent, and provided for manual override of the regulator to assure that this condition could be met. Time would confirm the practicality of this procedure. In fourteen subsequent flight and static firings of the first stage, the engine as altered started without incident.


	4. Explorer 1

### Launch data:

Designation | 00004 / 1958Alpha 1 / 58001A  
---|---  
Launch date | 01 Feb 1958 - 3:47:56 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC26A  
Launch vehicle |  [Jupiter C ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58001.htm)(Juno 1 from the US Army)  
s/nÂ° RS-29  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Earth orbit on 1 Feb - 04:49 (.20)  
Perigee/Apogee | 356 x 2548 km  
Eccentricity |  0.140  
Inclination | 33.24°  
Period | 

114,80 min  
  
Explorer 1 was designed and built by the California Institute of Technology's JPL under the direction of Dr. William H. Pickering. It was the second satellite to carry a mission payload (Sputnik 2 was the first).

The total mass of the satellite was 13.37 kilograms (30.80 lb), of which 8.3 kg (18.3 lb) were instrumentation. In comparison, the mass of the first Soviet satellite Sputnik 1 was 83.6 kg (184 lb). The instrument section at the front end of the satellite and the empty scaled-down fourth-stage rocket casing orbited as a single unit, spinning around its long axis at 750 revolutions per minute.

Data from the scientific instruments was transmitted to the ground by two antennas. A 60 milliwatt transmitter fed a dipole antenna consisting of two fiberglass slot antennas in the body of the satellite operating on 108.03 MHz, and four flexible whips forming a turnstile antenna were fed by a 10 milliwatt transmitter operating on 108.00 MHz.

Because of the limited space available and the requirements for low weight, the payload instrumentation was designed and built with simplicity and high reliability in mind, using germanium and silicon transistors in its electronics. A total of 29 transistors were used in Explorer 1, plus additional ones in the Army's micrometeorite amplifier. Electrical power was provided by mercury chemical batteries that made up approximately 40 percent of the payload weight.

The external skin of the instrument section was sandblasted stainless steel with white stripes. Several other color schemes had been tested, resulting in backup articles, models, and photographs showing different configurations, including alternate white and green striping and blue stripes alternating with copper. The final coloration was determined by studies of shadow–sunlight intervals based on firing time, trajectory, orbit, and inclination.

The Explorer 1 payload consisted of the Iowa Cosmic Ray Instrument without a tape data recorder which was not modified in time to make it onto the spacecraft. The real-time data received on the ground was therefore very sparse and puzzling showing normal counting rates and no counts at all. The later Explorer 3 mission, which included a tape data recorder in the payload, provided the additional data for confirmation of the earlier Explorer 1 data.

The scientific instrumentation of Explorer 1 was designed and built under the direction of Dr. James Van Allen of the University of Iowa containing:

Anton 314 omnidirectional Geiger–Müller tube, designed by Dr. George Ludwig of Iowa's Cosmic Ray Laboratory, to detect cosmic rays. It could detect protons with E > 30 MeV and electrons with E > 3 MeV. Most of the time the instrument was saturated;  
Five temperature sensors (one internal, three external and one on the nose cone);  
Acoustic detector (crystal transducer and solid-state amplifier) to detect micrometeorite (cosmic dust) impacts. It responded to micrometeorite impacts on the spacecraft skin in such a way that each impact would be a function of mass and velocity. Its effective area was 0.075 m2 and the average threshold sensitivity was 2.5×10−3 g cm/s;  
Wire grid detector, also to detect micrometeorite impacts. It consisted of 12 parallel connected cards mounted in a fiberglass supporting ring. Each card was wound with two layers of enameled nickel alloy wire with a diameter of 17 µm (21 µm with the enamel insulation included) in such way that a total area of 1 cm by 1 cm was completely covered. If a micrometeorite of about 10 µm impacted, it would fracture the wire, destroy the electrical connection, and thus record the event.

After a jet stream-related delay on 28 January 1958, at 10:48:16 PM Eastern Time on 31 January the Juno I rocket was launched, putting Explorer 1 into orbit with a perigee of 358 kilometers (222 mi) and an apogee of 2,550 kilometers (1,580 mi) having a period of 114.8 minutes. Goldstone Tracking Station could not report after 90 minutes as planned whether the launch had succeeded because the orbit was larger than expected. At about 1:30 a.m. ET, after confirming that Explorer 1 was indeed in orbit, a news conference was held in the Great Hall at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, DC to announce it to the world.

The original expected lifetime of the satellite before orbital decay was three years.Mercury batteries powered the high-power transmitter for 31 days and the low-power transmitter for 105 days. Explorer 1 stopped transmission of data on May 23, 1958 when its batteries died, but remained in orbit for more than 12 years. It reentered the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on March 31, 1970 after more than 58,000 orbits.


	5. Vanguard TV-3BU

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00004 / 58F01  
---|---  
Launch date |  5 Feb 1958 - 7:33 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle | [ Vanguard TV-3BU](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58F01.htm)  
Mission | Ionospheric studies  
  
**Vanguard TV3BU**, also called **Vanguard Test Vehicle Three Backup**, was the second flight of the American [Vanguard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanguard_\(rocket\))rocket. An unsuccessful attempt to place an unnamed satellite, **Vanguard 1B**, into orbit, the rocket was launched on February 5, 1958. It was launched from [Launch Complex 18A](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station_Launch_Complex_18) at the [Cape Canaveral Air Force Station](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Canaveral_Air_Force_Station). Fifty seven seconds after launch, control of the vehicle was lost and it failed to achieve orbit. At 57 seconds the booster suddenly pitched down. The skinny second stage broke in half from aerodynamic stress, causing the Vanguard to tumble end-over-end before Range Safety sent the destruct command. Cause of the failure was attributed to a spurious guidance signal that caused the first stage to perform unintended pitch maneuvers. Vanguard TV3BU only reached an altitude of 6 km (3.7 mi), the goal was 3,840 km (2,390 mi).

The spacecraft was a 1.47 kg aluminum sphere 15.2 cm in diameter. It contained a 10-mW, 108 MHz mercury-battery powered transmitter and a 5-mW, 108.03 MHz transmitter powered by six solar cells mounted on the body of the satellite. Six short aerials protruded from the sphere. The transmitters were used primarily for engineering and tracking data, but were also used to determine the total electron content between the satellite and ground stations.

The Vanguard Test Vehicle 3 Backup (TV-3 BU) failed less than one minute after launch on 5 February 1958. The satellite was, as the name implies, built as a backup to the Vanguard TV-3 satellite, which was launched unsuccessfully on 6 December 1957. The main purpose of the Vanguard Test Vehicle launchings was systems testing for the launch vehicle and satellite. The program objectives for the satellite were to conduct micrometeorite impact and geodetic measurements from Earth orbit. Engineering studies included electron charge and temperature of the satellite. The IGY Vanguard satellite program was designed with the purpose of launching one or more Earth orbiting satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which ended on 31 December 1958.

#### Mission Profile

Launch took place on 5 February 1958 at 07:33 UT from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Initial launch was nominal, but at an altitude of 460 meters (1500 ft) a malfunction in a connection between units of the control system or in the first stage servo amplifier resulted in loss of attitude control. Spurious electrical signals caused motion of the first stage engine in the pitch plane. At an altitude of about 20,000 feet (6.1 km), 57 seconds into the flight, a violent pitch-down to 45 degrees resulted in excessive structural and air loads on the launch vehicle, which broke up at the aft end of the second stage at 62 seconds, ending the mission.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The satellite was identical to the TV-3 satellite, an approximately 1.5-kg aluminum sphere 16.3 cm in diameter, nearly identical to the later Vanguard 1. A cylinder lined with heat shields mounted inside the sphere held the instrument payload. It contained a set of mercury-batteries, a 10-mW, 108-MHz telemetry transmitter powered by the batteries, and a 5-mW, 108.03-MHz Minitrack beacon transmitter, which was powered by six square (roughly 5 cm on a side) solar cells mounted on the body of the satellite. Six 30-cm long, 0.8-cm diameter spring-actuated aluminum alloy aerials protruded from the sphere. On actuation, the aerial axes were mutually perpendicular on lines that passed through the center of the sphere. The transmitters were primarily for engineering and tracking data, but were also to determine the total electron content between the satellite and ground stations. Vanguard also carried two thermistors which could measur the interior temperature in order to track the effectiveness of the thermal protection.

A cylindrical separation device was designd to keep the sphere attached to the third stage prior to deployment. At deployment a strap holding the satellite in place would be released and three leaf springs would separate the satellite from the cylinder and third stage at a relative velocity of about 0.3 m/s.


	6. Explorer 2

### Launch data:

Designation |  F00006 / 58F02  
---|---  
Launch date |  5 Mar 1958 - 18:27:57 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC-26A  
Launch vehicle |  [ Jupiter C (Juno-1)](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58F02.htm) (UV)  
Mission |  Earth Science  
  
Explorer 2 was the second satellite of the notable Explorer mission series that launched the United States into the Space Age, however, it did not reach the same success as its predecessor, Explorer 1. On launch day, the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C rocket carrying the satellite failed to ignite, and the mission was scrubbed.   
  


### Mission Events

**March 5, 1958:** The fourth stage of the Jupiter-C rocket launching Explorer 2 failed to ignite, scrubbing the mission.

### Scientific Instrument(s)

\- Cosmic-ray detector  
\- Micrometeorite detector  
  
  


Explorer 2 was identical to Explorer 1 except for the addition of a tape recorder designed to enable playback of data. The satellite was a 2.03 m long, 0.15 m diameter cylinder and nosecone that comprised the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle. With a mass of 14.22 kg, it was about 0.25 kg heavier than Explorer 1. The spacecraft body was made of stainless AISI-410 steel, 0.058 cm thick. The case was heat-oxidized to a gold color and eight alternate stripes of white Rokide A (flame sprayed aluminum oxide) were used for temperature control.

The base of the cylinder held the Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motor. The sub-carrier oscillators and Mallory mercury batteries for the low power transmitter were in the upper part of the nose cone. Below these was the low power (10 mW, 108.00 MHz) transmitter for the carrier and sub-carrier signals, which used the stainless steel satellite skin as a dipole antenna.

Below the nose cone was the detector deck, holding the Geiger-Mueller counter tube for the cosmic ray experiment, the command receiver, for recorder interrogations, high power playback transmitter (60 mW, 108.03 MHz) for interrogation response, cosmic ray experiment electronics, Mallory mercury batteries for the high power transmitter, and a 0.23 kg, 5.7 cm diameter magnetic tape recorder. An acoustic micrometeorite detector was mounted to the inside of the spacecraft cylinder near the cosmic ray device. Near the bottom of the detector deck four circularly polarized turnstile stainless steel wire whip antennas protruded radially from the side of the spacecraft, equally spaced around the axis. A gap for the high powered antenna and a heat radiation shield were between the payload and the rocket motor. The micrometeorite detectors were arranged in a ring around the cylinder near the bottom of the spacecraft. Four temperature gauges were mounted a various locations in the spacecraft.

The launch vehicle was a Juno 1, a variant of the three-stage Jupiter-C with an added fourth propulsive stage, which in this case was the Explorer 2. The first stage was an upgraded Redstone liquid-fueled rocket. The second stage comprised a cluster of eleven Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motors and the third stage held three Sergeants. The booster was equipped to spin the fourth stage in increments, leading to a final rate of 750 rpm about its long axis.

#### Mission Profile

Explorer 2 launched from the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Center of the Atlantic Missile Range, pad 26A, on 5 March 1958 at 18:27:59 UT. The flight was nominal through third stage ignition. The fourth stage failed to ignite, making attainment of orbital velocity impossible. The spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and fell into the Atlantic Ocean near Trinidad, some 3000 km from the launch site.

The cause of the failure was believed to be due to failure of a light plastic cone, which held the igniter in place at the fourth stage nozzle, under the launch stresses. This allowed the igniter to fall out of position. The igniter support was strengthened for later flights.


	7. Vanguard 1

### Launch data:

| Designation | 00005 / 1958 Beta 2 / 58002B  
---|---  
Launch date | 17 Mar 1958 - 12:15:41 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle |  [Vanguard TV-4](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58002.htm) #3  
Payload code | 6.5in sat #2  
Mission | Scientific: high atmosphere study  
Earth orbit on 17 Mar 1958 - 12:00 (.50)  
Perigee / Apogee | 650 x 3968 km  
Eccentricity |  0.191  
Inclination | 34,25°  
Period | 134,18 min  
Earth orbit on Jan 2012:  
Perigee / Apogee |  656 x 3849 km  
Eccentricity |  0.156  
Inclination |  34.3°  
Period |  132.8 min  
  
### Mission details:

  * Vanguard 1 was placed into a 654 x 3969 km 134.2 minute orbit inclined at 34.25 degrees by the three stage Vanguard launch vehicle. Original estimates had the orbit lasting for 2000 years, but it was discovered that solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag during high levels of solar activity produced significant perturbations in the perigee height of the satellite, which caused a significant decrease in its expected lifetime to only about 240 years. The battery powered transmitter stopped operating in June 1958 when the batteries ran down. The solar powered transmitter operated until May 1964 (when the last signals were received in Quito, Ecuador) after which the spacecraft was optically tracked from Earth.

Vanguard 1 (1958 Beta 2) was a small Earth-orbiting satellite designed to test the launch capabilities of a three-stage launch vehicle and the effects of the environment on a satellite and its systems in Earth orbit. It also was used to obtain geodetic measurements through orbit analysis. It was the second satellite launched by the U.S., the first successful satellite of the Vanguard series, and the first satellite to use solar cell power. It is the oldest satellite still orbiting the Earth.

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard 1 launched on 17 March 1958 at 12:15:41 UT from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral Florida. At 12:26:21, the third stage of the launch vehicle injected Vanguard 1 into a 654 x 3969 km, 134.27 minute orbit inclined at 34.25 degrees. Original estimates had the orbit lasting for 2000 years, but it was discovered that solar radiation pressure and atmospheric drag during high levels of solar activity produced significant perturbations in the perigee height of the satellite, which caused a significant decrease in its expected lifetime to only about 240 years. The battery powered transmitter stopped operating in June 1958 when the batteries ran down. The solar powered transmitter operated until May 1964 (when the last signals were received in Quito, Ecuador) after which the spacecraft was optically tracked from Earth.


	8. Explorer 3

### Launch data:

Designation |  00006/ 1958 Gamma 1 / 58003A  
---|---  
Launch date | 26 Mar 1958 - 17:38:03 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC5  
Launch vehicle |  [Jupiter C ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58003.htm)(Juno-1)  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Earth orbit on 26 Mar 1958 (.8):  
Perigee/Apogee | 186 x 2799 km  
Eccentricity |  0.166  
Inclination | 33,38°  
Period | 115,70 min  
  
### Description

Explorer 3 was launched in conjunction with the IGY by the U.S. Army (Ordinance) into an eccentric orbit. The objective of this spacecraft was a continuation of experiments started with Explorer 1. The payload consisted of a cosmic ray counter (a Geiger-Mueller tube), and a micrometeorite detector (erotion gauge). The Explorer 3 spacecraft was spin stabilized and had an on-board tape recorder to provide a complete radiation history for each orbit. It was discovered soon after launch that the satellite was in a tumbling motion with a period of about 7 s. Explorer 3 decayed from orbit on June 28, 1958, after 93 days of operation.

Explorer 3 (1958 Gamma) was launched in conjunction with the IGY by the U.S. Army (Ordinance) into an eccentric orbit. The objective of this spacecraft was a continuation of experiments started with Explorer 1. The payload consisted of a cosmic ray counter (a Geiger-Mueller tube), and a micrometeorite detector (erosion gauge). The Explorer 3 spacecraft was spin stabilized and had an on-board tape recorder to provide a complete radiation history for each orbit. It was discovered soon after launch that the satellite was in a tumbling motion with a period of about 7 s. Explorer 3 decayed from orbit on June 28, 1958, after just over 93 days of operation.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Explorer 3 was essentially the same as Explorer 1, a 2.03 m long, 0.15 m diameter cylinder and nosecone that comprised the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle. With a mass of 14.06 kg, it was about 0.1 kg heavier than Explorer 1. The base of the cylinder held the Sergeant solid-fuel rocker motor. The sub-carrier oscillators and Mallory mercury batteries for the low power transmitter were in the upper part of the nose cone. Below these was the low power (10 mW, 108.00 MHz) transmitter for the carrier and sub-carrier signals and an air gap for the nose cone, which acted as the low power system antenna.

Below the nose cone was the detector deck, holding the Geiger-Mueller counter tube for the cosmic ray experiment, the command receiver, for recorder interrogations, high power playback transmitter (60 mW, 108.03 MHz) for interrogation response, cosmic ray experiment electronics, Mallory mercury batteries for the high power transmitter, and 0.23 kg, 5.7 cm diameter magnetic tape recorder (which was not on Explorer 1). A gap for the high powered antenna and a heat radiation shield were between the payload and the rocket motor. The high power system used the instrument and motor cases as a dipole radiating antenna. The micrometeorite detectors were arranged in a ring around the cylinder near the bottom of the spacecraft. Unlike Explorer 1, Explorer 3 had no radial whip antennas and no acoustic micrometeorite detector.

The launch vehicle was a Juno 1, a variant of the three-stage Jupiter-C with an added fourth propulsive stage, which in this case was the Explorer 3. The first stage was an upgraded Redstone liquid-fueled rocket. The second stage comprised a cluster of eleven Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motors and the third stage held three Sergeants.

#### Mission Profile

Explorer 3 was launched from the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Center in Florida on 26 March 1958 at 17:38 UT (12:38 pm EST). The spacecraft was injected into a 186 x 2799 km altitude orbit with an inclination of 33.38 degrees and a period of 115.7 minutes at 17:45:06 UT. The first successful interrogation of the command readout system was achieved 3 minutes later by the Antigua Minitrack station.

The spin rate (about the long-axis) of Explorer 3 on its initial orbits was 10 revolutions per second (rps), but over the next 10 days this slowed to 2 rps. The angle of precession also increased over this time, so that after 10 days the spacecraft was effectively tumbling with a period of 7 seconds. The experiments and communications systems operated nominally until early May.

On May 7 the micrometeorite detector data showed two grids had broken, indicating micrometeorite impacts. On May 8, telemetry channel 5 (temperature) on the low power transmitter ceased operating, and on May 9 the modulator on the low power transmitter was not operating and at 10:22 UT interrogation on the high power transmitter became intermittent. On May 10 the carrier signal disappeared. On May 11 the high power transmitter went silent, and on May 12 the low power transmitter also failed. On May 14 the carrier signal reappeared, without the subcarrier tones, but disappeared for good on May 16. The interrogation response was seen briefly on 21 May, the last interrogation response came on 24 May 1958 at 06:52 UT. The last signal from the high power system came on June 5. Since the two transmission systems were completely independent, it was speculated that the micrometeorite detections may have been due to the Eta Aquarids meteor shower, and that other impacts may have occurred at the same time and damaged spacecraft systems, leading to failures of the two transmission systems. The orbit of Explorer 3 decayed on 28 June 1958 and it reentered the atmosphere


	9. Sputnik (3)

### Launch data:

Designation | F00008 / 58F03  
---|---  
Launch date | 27 Apr 1958 - 09:01 UT  
Launch site | B, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Sputnik 8A91  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Satellite type |  [D-1 ](http://weebau.com/satellite/D/d-1.htm)(#1)  
Mass at launch | 1250 kg  
Decay | 27 Apr 1958 - 09:08? UT  
  
  
  


* * *

### Mission details:

  * Korolyov 'Object-D' satellite launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Sputnik (R-7) rocket.
  * Rocket took off normally, but resonant frequencies in the strap-on booster arrangement began shaking the vehicle apart after about one minute. The rocket broke apart 88 seconds after lift-off.


	10. Vanguard TV-5

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00010 / 58F04  
---|---  
Launch date |  29 Apr 1958 - 2:53 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle | [ Vanguard TV-5](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58f04.htm)  
Mission |  Science: X-ray satellite  
  
Vanguard TV-5 launched on 29 April (28 April ET) 1958 but did not reach orbit when the third stage failed to separate. The main purpose of the Vanguard Test Vehicle launchings was systems testing for the launch vehicle and satellite. The program objectives for the satellite were to conduct solar X-ray and space environment measurements from Earth orbit. The IGY Vanguard satellite program was designed with the purpose of launching one or more Earth orbiting satellites during the International Geophysical Year (IGY), which ended on 31 December 1958.

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard TV-5 was launched on 29 April 1958 at 02:53 UT (28 April, 9:53 p.m. ET) from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The launch proceeded nominally through the second stage burnout 262 seconds after launch. Following this, however, two electric relays malfunctioned and failed to transmit the signal to arm the coasting flight control system, preventing the third stage from separating and firing. The second and third stages reached an altitude of 358 miles and crashed about 1600 miles downrange from the launch site. This concluded the Vanguard Test Vehicle series, the Vanguard missions following this were designated Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle (SLV) followed by a sequential number.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The TV-5 satellite was a 9.75 kg (21.5 lb), 50.8 cm (20 inch) diameter sphere. The shell was composed of magnesium, coated with highly polished silicon monoxide. It had four protruding metal rod antennas. A 108.00 MHz transmitter at 80 milliwatts was designed to provide tracking and telemetry. Power was supplied by mercury batteries. The payload included an instrument to measure solar X-ray emissions in the 1 to 8 Angstrom band and space environment monitors.


	11. Sputnik 3

## Launch data:

Designation | 00008 / 1958Delta 2 / 58004B  
---|---  
Launch date | 15 May 1958 - 07:00:35 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Sputnik 8A91 (B1-1)  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Satellite type |  [D-1 ](http://weebau.com/satellite/D/d-1.htm)(#2)  
Earth orbit on May 15, 1958:  
Perigee / Apogee |  217 x 1864 km  
Eccentricity |  0.111  
Inclination |  65.18 deg  
Period |  105.97 min  
  
### Mission details:

  * 15 May 1958: Sputnik 3 - backup of Korolyov Object-D satellite - launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Sputnik (R-7) rocket into 216 x 1863 kilometre orbit at 65.2 degrees inclination - an immediate failure of its onboard tape recorder means that data can only be gathered when it is within range of a ground-based radio receiving station
  * 01 May 1959: Sputnik 3 ceases to return useful information although its radio transmitter continues to function - powered by solar cells. It decayed from its orbit on 5 April 1960.

Sputnik 3 was an automatic scientific laboratory spacecraft. The scientific instrumentation (twelve instruments) provided data on pressure and composition of the upper atmosphere, concentration of charged particles, photons in cosmic rays, heavy nuclei in cosmic rays, magnetic and electrostatic fields, and meteoric particles. The outer radiation belts of the Earth were detected during the flight. The spacecraft remained in orbit until April 6, 1960. It was the largest satellite ever flown to that point by far, with a mass that was more than twice as much as the 5 previously flown satellites combined. The objective was to characterize the geophysics and space physics environment from orbit, including the newly discovered radiation belts. It was overseen by the Soviet Academy of Sciences.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Sputnik 3 had a mass of 1327 kg. It was conically-shaped and was 3.57 meters long with a base diameter of 1.73 meters. It was powered by silver-zinc batteries and solar cells. Communication was via the Tral telemetry system utilizing a 20.005 MHz transmitter. Data was transmitted on a 48-channel commutated PAM system on an interrogated transmitter at 66 MHz. The spacecraft carried a tape recorder that unfortunately failed. There was no attitude control. The instrumentation and other equipment were held inside a pressurized compartment, which comprised most of the interior of the spacecraft. The scientific instrument payload included a magnetometer, solar corpuscular radiation detectors, magnetic and ionization pressure manometers, ion traps, electrostatic fluxmeter, radio frequency mass spectrometer, cosmic ray heavy nuclei detector, primary cosmic ray monitor, and micrometeorite detectors. Radio propagation investigations were also done using the transmitters.

#### Mission Profile

Sputnik 3 launched on 15 May 1958 at 7:12 UT into a 217 x 1864 km Earth orbit with an inclination of 65 degrees and a period of 106 minutes. With the failed tape recorder, the spacecraft could only send data back to Earth in real time, so the only areas it could study where those in range of Soviet tracking stations, i.e. over Soviet territory. Communications were lost on 3 June 1959. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere and burned up on 6 April 1960 after almost 2 years in orbit.


	12. Vanguard SLV-1

Designation |  F00012 / 58F05  
---|---  
Launch date |  28 May 1958 - 3:46:20 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle | [ Vanguard SLV-1](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58f05.htm)  
Mission | Earth science  
  
Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle 1 (SLV-1) was launched on 27 May 1958. Due to a malfunction in the second stage, the vehicle failed to enter Earth orbit as planned and crashed 12,000 km downrange. The planned program objectives of the satellite were to develop the capability to launch satellites into accurate Earth orbits, to confirm the feasibility of the Vanguard concept, and to study solar Lyman-alpha radiation and the space environment. The purpose of the IGY Vanguard satellite program, managed by the U.S. Navy, was to launch one or more satellites into Earth orbit during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard SLV-1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 27 May 1958 at 03:46 UT. Launch was normal until 261.5 seconds after launch, when the second stage engine did not cut off properly because of an instability resulting from depletion of the oxidizer. The disturbance caused vehicle rotation in the pitch plane to exceed the 10.5 degree gyro limit, resulting in loss of attitude reference to the pitch gyro. The remainder of the flight was controlled to a false reference. This caused the vehicle to fly in a nose-upward attitude (63 degrees to horizontal) rather than parallel to Earth at the time the third stage was deployed. This in turn caused the third stage to fly in a high arc-like trajectory, precluding any possibility of orbit. The third stage reached a peak altitude of 3500 km (2200 miles) and traveled 12,000 km (7500 miles) downrange, landing near the east coast of the Union of South Africa.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The SLV-1 satellite was a 9.75 kg (21.5 lb), 50.8 cm (20 inch) diameter sphere. The spherical shell was magnesium, internally gold-plated and externally covered with an aluminum deposit coated with highly polished silicon monoxide of sufficient thickness to provide thermal control for the instrumentation. The interior was pressurized. The payload instrumentation package was mounted in the center of the sphere. The package was arranged in a cylindrical stack with the mercury batteries at the bottom, followed by the minitrack tracking system electronics, the environment electronics, the telemetering instrumentation, and if necessary, the experiment electronics. Below the package at the bottom of the sphere was the separation device, a spring loaded tube with a timer designed to push the satellite away from the third stage after orbit was reached. At the top of the interior of the sphere was a pressure gauge. Four 30-inch spring-loaded metal rods were folded along the equator of the sphere and would protrude radially outward when deployed, acting as a turnstile antenna. It used an 80 mW transmitter at a frequency of 108.00 megahertz. The Lyman-alpha detector was mounted on the shell and covered the 1100 to 1300 angstrom bands.


	13. Vanguard SLV-2

Designation |  F00014 / 58F06  
---|---  
Launch date |  26 Jun 1958 - 5:00:52 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle |  Vanguard SLV-2  
Mission |  X-ray satellite  
  
Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle 2 (SLV-2) was launched on 26 June 1958. The flight failed to reach orbit due to premature cutoff of the second stage rocket engine. The program objective was to launch into orbit a fully instrumented "X-ray and environmental satellite" to study maximum variations in intensity of X-rays from the Sun in the 1 to 8 angstrom wavelength bands and to make certain space environment measurements. The purpose of the IGY Vanguard satellite program, run by the U.S. Navy, was to launch one or more satellites into Earth orbit during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle 2 (SLV-2) was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 26 June 1958. Liftoff was nominal, but low oxidizer feed pressure caused the second stage rocket engine to shut down after firing for only 8 seconds, 152.6 seconds after launch, resulting in insufficient velocity to arm the third stage for firing and causing termination of the flight. The premature shutdown caused the propellant tank pressures to exceed design values without failing, proving the structural integrity of the tankage.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The SLV-2 satellite was a 9.75 kg (21.5 lb), 50.8 cm (20 inch) diameter sphere. The spherical shell was magnesium, internally gold-plated and externally covered with an aluminum deposit coated with highly polished silicon monoxide of sufficient thickness to provide thermal control for the instrumentation. The interior was pressurized. The payload instrumentation package was mounted in the center of the sphere. The package was arranged in a cylindrical stack with the mercury batteries at the bottom, followed by the minitrack tracking system electronics, the environment electronics, the telemetering instrumentation, and the experiment electronics. Below the package at the bottom of the sphere was the separation device, a spring loaded tube with a timer designed to push the satellite away from the third stage after orbit was reached. At the top of the interior of the sphere was a pressure gauge. Four 30-inch spring-loaded metal rods were folded along the equator of the sphere and would protrude radially outward when deployed, acting as a turnstile antenna. It used an 80 mW transmitter at a frequency of 108.00 megahertz.


	14. Pilot 1

Designation |  F00017 / 58F07  
---|---  
Launch date |  25 Jul 1958 - 19:37 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#1)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit: 25 July 1958 - 23:00 UT  
Perigee / Apogee |  2250 / 2400 km  
Inclination |  46 degrees  
Period |  330 min  
  
## Spacecraft data:

Prime contractor |  NOTS  
---|---  
Operator |  NOTS  
Equipment |  IR scanner  
Mass at launch |  1,05 kg  
Dry Mass |  kg  
Basic shape |  Anullar body with small rocket motor in the center  
Dimension |  dia 20 cm  
Solar array |   
Stabilization |  Spin stabilized  
Propulsion |  None   
  
### Description:

  * With a mass of 1.05 kilograms (2.3 pounds) and a diameter of 20 centimeters (8 inches), the doughnut-shaped NOTSNIK satellite is among the smallest orbital payloads ever launched. This battery-powered satellite was constructed at NOTS China Lake facility and carried a single instrument - an infrared "television" scanner. Similar to the units supplied by the Navy for the USAF lunar orbiters, this simple imager was hardly a "television" in the usual sense. A small mirror focused light onto an infrared detector which would use the rotation of the satellite to scan a line in the scene. The forward motion of the satellite itself would then allow a picture to be built one line at a time. While the crude images produced by this system would have little intelligence value, the experienced gained would be valuable in developing more capable follow-on systems.
  * The images produced by the satellite would be transmitted to a network of about a half dozen portable MINITRACK stations scattered around the globe. Because of the small size of the satellite, the system would only operate for about three orbits before the batteries were depleted, long enough to verify that orbit had been achieved and attempt to secure some images.
  * Since orbital reconnaissance was a touchy subject at the time, NOTSNIK and its mission were kept top secret. Except for those with a need to know, NOTSNIK´s "cover story" was that it was to conduct radiation measurements in support of Project Argus which would assess the effects of nuclear detonations in space. The satellite´s small size and short lifetime made it unlikely that it would be detected by anyone outside the program.

### Mission details:

Air launch of 953 kg five-stage rocket, from F4D-1 Skyray at 12,5 km and at 58 degrees to the horizontal and Mach 0.9. It was piloted by Cdr William W.West. Rocket ignited 3 sec after release, but smoke obscured the flight. It was unclear if the satellite reached orbit:the parameters given are for a nominal mission.


	15. Explorer 4

### Launch data:

Designation | 00009 / 1958Eps 1 / 58005A  
---|---  
Launch date | 26 Jul 1958 - 15:00:57 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC5  
Launch vehicle |  [Jupiter C ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58005.htm)(Juno 1)  
Mission | Scientific: ionosphere study  
Earth orbit on 26 Jul 1958:  
Perigee/Apogee | 263 x 2213 km  
Eccentricity |  0.128  
Inclination | 50,30°  
Period | 110,18 min  
  
### Description

Explorer 4 was a cylindrically shaped satellite instrumented to make the first detailed measurements of charged particles (protons and electrons) trapped in the terrestrial radiation belts. An unexpected tumble motion of the satellite made the interpretation of the detector data very difficult. The low-power transmitter and the plastic scintillator detector failed September 3, 1958. The two Geiger-Mueller tubes and the cesium iodide crystal detectors continued to operate normally until September 19, 1958. The high-power transmitter ceased sending signals on October 5, 1958. It is believed that exhaustion of the power batteries caused these failures.

* * *

### Spacecraft data:

| Prime contractor |  Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)  
---|---  
Operator |  NASA  
Platform |   
Mass at launch |  17,5 kg  
Payload |  8 kg  
Basic shape |  Cylinder  
Dimension |  2.03 long 0.15 dia  
Equipment |  Cosmic-ray detection package, temperature sensors  
micrometeorite impact microphone, micrometeorite erosion gauges  
  
### End of life

| Decay | 23 Oct 1959  
---|---  
Lifetime | 454 days  
  
Explorer 4 (1958 Epsilon) was a cylindrically shaped satellite instrumented to make the first detailed measurements of charged particles (protons and electrons) trapped in the terrestrial radiation belts and to observe the effects of the Project Argus A-bomb detonations. An unexpected tumble motion of the satellite made the interpretation of the detector data very difficult.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Explorer 4 was identical in size to the earlier Explorers but was over 3 kg heavier, primarily due to a larger instrument payload. The satellite was a 2.03 m long, 0.15 m diameter cylinder and nosecone that comprised the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle. The on-orbit mass (after fuel burnout) was 17.43 kg. The spacecraft body was made of stainless AISI-410 steel, 0.058 cm thick. The surface was sandblasted, no aluminum oxide striping was used as on earlier Explorers.

The base of the cylinder held the Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motor. The Mallory mercury batteries for the low power transmitter were in the upper part of the nose cone. Below these was the low power (10 mW, 108.00 MHz) transmitter for the carrier and sub-carrier signals, which used the stainless steel nose cone as an antenna.

Below the nose cone was the detector deck, holding the instrumentation for the radiation experiments, the command receiver, for interrogations, high power playback transmitter (25-30 mW, 108.03 MHz) for interrogation response, cosmic ray experiment electronics, and Mallory mercury batteries for the high power transmitter. The lower spacecraft body was used as the antenna for the high power transmitter. A heat radiation shield was mounted between the payload and the rocket motor. Temperature gauges were mounted at various locations in the spacecraft.

The radiation experiment comprised four detectors, two Geiger-Mueller counters and two scintillation counters. One of the Geiger-Mueller counters was unshielded and one was shielded with 1.6 g/square cm lead to screen out lower energy particles and radiation. One scintillator was a CsI crystal with a 0.8 mg/square cm nickel foil window, the other was a plastic scintillator with a 0.14 g/square cm aluminum window. All radiation experiments were within the spacecraft wall, which provided a protection of 1.2 g/square cm iron.

#### Juno 1 Launch Vehicle

The launch vehicle was a Juno 1, a variant of the three-stage Jupiter-C with an added fourth propulsive stage, which in this case was the Explorer 4. The first stage was an upgraded Redstone liquid-fueled rocket. The second stage comprised a cluster of eleven Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motors and the third stage held three Sergeants. The booster was equipped to spin the fourth stage in increments, leading to a final rate of 750 rpm about its long axis.

#### Mission Profile

Explorer 4 was launched on 26 July 1958 at 15:00:07 UT from the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Center of the Atlantic Missile Range. The spacecraft was injected into an initial 263 x 2213 km orbit with an inclination of 50.33 degrees and a period of 110.2 minutes at 15:07 UT. This was a much higher inclination and apogee than previous Explorers to allow it to sample more area at higher altitudes. Soon after orbit insertion, the spacecraft developed an end-over-end tumbling motion with a period of about 6 seconds, which affected the measurements and signal level throughout the mission.

Explorer 4 was in orbit and operational during the three Project Argus launches 27 August to 6 September, part of the mission objective was to observe the effects of these high-altitude A-bomb detonations on the space environment. The low-power transmitter and the plastic scintillator detector failed September 3, 1958. The two Geiger-Mueller tubes and the cesium iodide crystal detectors continued to operate normally until September 19, 1958. The high-power transmitter ceased sending signals on October 5, 1958. It is believed that exhaustion of the power batteries caused these failures. The spacecraft decayed from orbit after 454 days on October 23, 1959.


	16. Pilot 2

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00020 / 58F08  
---|---  
Launch date |  12 Aug 1958 - 22:45 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#2)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit:  
Perigee / Apogee |  2250 / 2400 km  
Inclination |  °  
Period |  min  
  
Air-launch of five stage rocket. The two first stage motors blew up at ignition sending the F4D-1 Skyray into a spin and Cdr West nearly lost control of the aircraft.


	17. Pioneer 0

Designation | F00022 / 58F09  
---|---  
Launch date | 17 Aug 1958 - 12:18 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC17A  
Launch vehicle |  [Thor-DM18 Able-1 ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58F09.htm)(#127)  
Mission | Lunar orbiter  
Satellite code |  Able 1  
Decay | 17 Aug 1958  
  
  
  


First Thor-Able 1 launch.  
**Pioneer 0 was the world's first attempt to launch a probe out of Earth's orbit**.

### Specifications:

Prime contractor | USAF, NASA  
---|---  
Manufacturer | Space Technology Laboratories (TRW)  
Mass at launch | 38 kg  
Dry Mass |  kg  
Configaration | 2 glass fiber cones jointed at their base by a cylinder  
Dimensions |  Length: 0.8 m - Max. diameter: 0.7 m  
Equipment | camera (oscillating mirror scanner), radiation counter, search coil magnetometer, microphone micrometeorite detector  
Propulsion | 8 vernier rockets (seperable), TX-8 (Falcon) orbit insertion motor  
Stabilization |  Spin stabilized  
  
  * The scientific instrument package had a mass of 11.3 kg and consisted of an image scanning infrared television system to study the Moon's surface, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a magnetometer, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at on 108.06 MHz through an electric dipole antenna for telemetry and doppler information and a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system. Ground commands were received through the electric dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was to be spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory.
  * Scientific Instruments:  
1) magnetometer  
2) micrometeoroid impact detector  
3) temperature sensors  
4) infrared camera

###    
Mission details:

  * The **Pioneer 0** (also known as _Thor-Able 1_) probe was designed to go into orbit around the Moon and carried a TV camera and other instruments as part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. It was the first attempt by the USA at a lunar mission, and the first attempted launch beyond Earth orbit by any country. Propelled by the U. S. 's desire to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, each of the three vehicles was designed to go into orbit around the Moon and photograph the Moon's surface. None of the vehicles accomplished its intended mission, although some useful data was returned.
  * The first vehicle, Pioneer 0, was the first of two U.S. Air Force (USAF) launches to the Moon. The Able 1 spacecraft, a squat, conical, fiberglass structure, carried a crude infrared TV scanner. This device was a simple thermal radiation device comprising a small parabolic mirror for focusing reflected light from the lunar surface onto a cell that would transmit voltage proportional to the light it received. Engineers painted a pattern of dark and light stripes on the spacecraft’s outer surface to regulate internal temperature. The spacecraft was also disinfected with ultraviolet light prior to launch. According to the ideal mission profile, Able 1 was designed to reach the Moon 2.6 days after launch; then the TX-8-6 solid propellant motor would fire to insert the vehicle into orbit around the Moon. Altitude would have been 29,000 kilometers with an optimal lifetime of about two weeks.
  * The actual mission, however, lasted only 77 seconds after the Thor first stage exploded at 15.2 kilometers altitude. The upper stages hit the Atlantic about 123 seconds later. Investigators concluded that the accident had due to a propellant tank rupture caused by the explosion of a turbopump. Following this attempt, Pioneer 1 and Pioneer 2 were turned over to United States' newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This spacecraft was the first U.S. attempt at a lunar mission and the first attempted lauch beyond Earth orbit by any country. The Pioneer 0 probe was designed to go into orbit around the Moon and carried a TV camera and other instruments as part of the first International Geophysical Year (IGY) science payload. The spacecraft was destroyed by an explosion of the first (Thor booster no. 127) stage 77 seconds after launch at 16 km altitude, 16 km downrange over the Atlantic. Failure was suspected to be due to a ruptured fuel or oxygen line or a faulty turbopump gearbox. Erratic telemetry signals were received from the payload and upper stages for 123 seconds after the explosion, and the upper stages were tracked to impact in the ocean. The original plan was for the spacecraft to travel for 2.6 days to the Moon at which time a TX-8-6 solid propellant motor would fire to put it into a 29,000 km lunar orbit which was to nominally last for about two weeks.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Pioneer 0 consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone frustrum on each side. The cylinder was 74 cm in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the opposite cone was 76 cm. Along the axis of the spacecraft and protruding from the end of the lower cone was an 11 kg solid propellant injection rocket and rocket case, which formed the main structural member of the spacecraft. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the upper cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone. The shell was composed of laminated plastic and was painted with a pattern of dark and light stripes to help regulate temperature.

The scientific instrument package had a mass of 11.3 kg and consisted of an image scanning infrared television system to study the Moon's surface, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a magnetometer, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at 108.06 MHz through an electric dipole antenna for telemetry and doppler information and a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system. Ground commands were received through the electric dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was to be spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory.


	18. Pilot 3

Designation |  F00026 / 58F10  
---|---  
Launch date |  22 Aug 1958 - 21:37 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#3)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit:  
Perigee / Apogee |  2250 / 2400 km  
Inclination |  °  
Period |  min  
  
### Mission details:

After air-launch, the rocket disappeared over the horizon exhibiting uncertain performance. A listening station at Christchurch, New Zealand reported hearing signals corresponding to the first and third orbit.


	19. Explorer 5

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00028 / 58F11  
---|---  
Launch date |  24 Aug 1958 - 6:17:22 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC5  
Launch vehicle |  [ Jupiter C (Juno-1)](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58F11.htm) (TI)  
Mission | Earth science, nuclear test observation  
  
Explorer 5 was similar in all respects to Explorer 4 and was designed with the same basic science objectives, to make the first detailed measurements of charged particles (protons and electrons) trapped in the terrestrial radiation belts and to observe the effects of the Project Argus A-bomb detonations. Explorer 5 launched but failed to reach orbit on August 24, 1958.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Explorer 5 was a 2.03 m long, 0.15 m diameter cylinder and nosecone that comprised the fourth stage of the Jupiter-C launch vehicle. The on-orbit mass (after fuel burnout) was 17.43 kg. The spacecraft body was made of stainless AISI-410 steel, 0.058 cm thick. The surface was sandblasted, no aluminum oxide striping was used as on earlier Explorers.

The base of the cylinder held the Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motor. The Mallory mercury batteries for the low power transmitter were in the upper part of the nose cone. Below these was the low power (10 mW, 108.00 MHz) transmitter for the carrier and sub-carrier signals, which used the stainless steel nose cone as an antenna.

Below the nose cone was the detector deck, holding the instrumentation for the radiation experiments, the command receiver, for interrogations, high power playback transmitter (25-30 mW, 108.03 MHz) for interrogation response, cosmic ray experiment electronics, and Mallory mercury batteries for the high power transmitter. The lower spacecraft body was used as the antenna for the high power transmitter. A heat radiation shield was mounted between the payload and the rocket motor. Temperature gauges were mounted at various locations in the spacecraft.

The radiation experiment comprised four detectors, two Geiger-Mueller counters and two scintillation counters. One of the Geiger-Mueller counters was unshielded and one was shielded with 1.6 g/square cm lead to screen out lower energy particles and radiation. One scintillator was a CsI crystal with a 0.8 mg/square cm nickel foil window, the other was a plastic scintillator with a 0.14 g/square cm aluminum window. All radiation experiments were within the spacecraft wall, which provided a protection of 1.2 g/square cm iron.

#### Juno 1 Launch Vehicle

The launch vehicle was a Juno 1, a variant of the three-stage Jupiter-C with an added fourth propulsive stage, which in this case was the Explorer 4. The first stage was an upgraded Redstone liquid-fueled rocket. The second stage comprised a cluster of eleven Sergeant solid-fuel rocket motors and the third stage held three Sergeants. The booster was equipped to spin the fourth stage in increments, leading to a final rate of 750 rpm about its long axis.

#### Mission profile

Explorer 5 launched on 24 August 1958 at 6:17:22 UT from the Cape Canaveral Missile Test Center of the Atlantic Missile Range. The spacecraft was not oriented correctly when the second stage fired about 3 minutes after liftoff, preventing it from achieving orbit.

The Explorer 5 failure occurred immediately after separation of the first stage Redstone booster from the second stage. Under normal operations, when either the propellant or oxygen is depleted in the Redstone, about 155 seconds after liftoff, the propellant main valves to the combustion chamber are shut off. Five seconds after this a timer activates six explosive bolts holding the booster to the rest of the rocket. These release the Redstone from the second stage, and coil springs push them apart in preparation for the subsequent second stage firing. In this case for some reason the Redstone continued to exert thrust after separation, causing it to catch up to the back of the second stage and collide with it approximately 12 seconds after separation. This changed the orientation of the rocket, resulting in the second stage firing in the wrong direction, so that an orbital trajectory was not achieved and the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere and fell back to Earth.


	20. Pilot 4

Designation |  F00031 / 58F12  
---|---  
Launch date |  25 Aug 1958 - 19:52 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#4)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit: 27 Aug 1958 - 12:00 UT  
Perigee / Apogee |  802 / 2055 km  
Inclination |  37 degrees  
Period |  138.12 min  
  
Air-launch of satellite-carrying rocket which was 4.38m long. One of the two motors of the first stage exploded at 0.75 seconds after firing. The satellite decayed from orbit on 18 June 1961.


	21. Pilot 5

Designation |  F00034 / 58F13  
---|---  
Launch date |  26 Aug 1958 - 16:37 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#5)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit:  
Perigee / Apogee |  2250 / 2400 km  
Inclination |  °  
Period |  min  
  
Air-launch of 953 kg five-stage rocket, which should have fired after three seconds of free flight. The engine failed to ignite and the vehicle was destroyed by range control at T+88 seconds.


	22. Pilot 6

Designation |  F00037 / 58F14  
---|---  
Launch date |  30 Aug 1958 - 22:05 UT  
Launch site |  NOTS DZSB (In, F4D-1)  
34N, 120W  
Launch vehicle |  Pilot (NOTS-EV-1) (#6)  
Mission |  Technology  
Earth orbit:  
Perigee / Apogee |  2250 / 2400 km  
Inclination |  °  
Period |  min  
  
Air-launch of five-stage solid propellant launcher, but after release, only one of the two first-stage motors fired, and the rocket tumbled and broke up.


	23. Luna E-1 #1

## Launch data:

Designation | F00039 / 58F15  
---|---  
Launch date | 23 Sep 1958 - 07:03:23 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Vostok-L (8K72L - n° B1-3)  
Satellite type | Ye-1 #1  
Mission | Lunar impactor  
Operator |   
Decay | 23 Sep 1958 - 07:05 UT  
  
## Specifications:

Design and Management |  OKB-1  
---|---  
Operator |  see above  
Mass at launch |  360 kg (with upper stage)  
Dry Mass |  165 kg  
Dimension | 1.6 x 0.8 m  
Basic shape |  bol  
  
### Description:

Scientific Instruments:

  * 1) three-component magnetometer
  * 2) two gas discharge counters
  * 3) piezoelectric detector
  * 4) scintillation counter
  * 5) ion traps

### Mission details:

  * 28 Jan 1958: Sergei Korolyov proposes a programme of lunar exploration missions including impact on the Moon and photographing its surface.
  * Engineers conceived of four initial probes, the Ye-1 (for lunar impact), Ye-2 (to photograph the far side of the Moon), Ye-3 (to photograph the far side of the Moon), and Ye-4 (for lunar impact with a nuclear explosion). The Ye-1 was a simple probe, a pressurized spherical object made from aluminum-magnesium alloy, approximately the size of the first Sputnik, that carried five scientific instruments. The goals of the mission were to study the gas component of interplanetary matter (using the proton traps), meteoric particles and photons in cosmic radiation (using the piezoelectric detectors), the magnetic fields of the Moon and Earth (using the magnetometer), variations in cosmic ray intensity, and heavy nuclei in primary cosmic radiation. The probe (on its upper stage) also carried one kilogram of natrium to create an artificial comet on the outbound trajectory that could be photographed from Earth.
  * First launch with the new Vostok-L rocket, carried a probe to impact on the Moon.
  * Soviet scientists mounted a type E third stage on top of their 280t R7 rocket in an attempt to reach escape velocity and impact a pakage of instruments on the Moon. The mission was also to include the release of a small cloud of sodium and create a "sodium comet" which could be seen from Earth.
  * 23 Sep 1958: Ye-1-1 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory.
  * The additional weight (of the upper stage) caused resonant frequencies in the strap-on boosters which began shaking the rocket apart. Between 87 and 92,5 seconds into the flight the rocket broke up. The boosters and stages exploded as they impacted down range.


	24. Vanguard SLV-3

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00041 / 58F16  
---|---  
Launch date |  26 Sep 1958 - 15:38 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle |  Vanguard SLV-3  
Mission |  Cloud cover satellite  
Perigee / Apogee |  km  
Inclination |  °  
Period |  min  
  
Vanguard Satellite Launching Vehicle 3 (SLV-3) was launched on 26 September 1958. The second stage failed to achieve the minimal performance necessary to maintain Earth orbit, and the spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere and burned up. The objective of the satellite was to scan Earth's cloud cover from orbit. The purpose of the IGY Vanguard satellite program, run by the U.S. Navy, was to launch one or more satellites into Earth orbit during the International Geophysical Year (IGY).

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard SLV-3 was launched from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 26 September 1958 at 15:38 UT. Flight was nominal during the liftoff period, but the performance of the second stage was below the anticipated minimum requirement. The third stage fired as planned, although separation from the second stage occurred about 50 seconds early, at 422.7 seconds after launch. The failure of the second stage resulted in a final velocity that was about 75 meters per second (250 feet per second) short of the roughly 7500 mps (25,000 fps) required to reach the planned orbit. The burned out third stage and satellite reached an altitude of almost 425 km (265 miles) before coming back down and burning up on re-entry into the atmosphere. This was believed to have occurred over Central Africa after completion of one orbit. The poor performance of the second stage was concluded to be a result of low fuel flow rate due to contamination from Buna-N rubber particles from the helium fill hose.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The SLV-3 satellite was a 10.6 kg (23.3 lb), 50.8 cm (20 inch) diameter magnesium sphere. The interior was pressurized. The payload instrumentation package was mounted in the center of the sphere. The package was arranged in a cylindrical stack with mercury batteries at the bottom, followed by the minitrack tracking system electronics, the environment electronics, the telemetering instrumentation, and the experiment electronics. Below the package at the bottom of the sphere was the separation device, a spring loaded tube with a timer designed to push the satellite away from the third stage after orbit was reached. At the top of the interior of the sphere was a pressure gauge. Four 30-inch spring-loaded metal rods were folded along the equator of the sphere and would protrude radially outward when deployed, acting as a turnstile antenna. It used two transmitters: a 10 mW transmitter broadcasting at a frequency of 108.00 megahertz and a 1 W transmitter broadcasting at 108.03 megahertz. The payload contained two infrared-sensitive photocells designed to scan the cloud cover of Earth.


	25. Pioneer 1

## Launch data:

Designation |  00110 / 1958 Eta 1 / 58007A  
---|---  
Launch date | 11 Oct 1958 - 8:42:13 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC17A  
Launch vehicle |  [Thor-DM18 Able-1](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58007.htm)(#130/DM-1812-6)  
Mission | Lunar orbiter  
Maximum distance  
from Earth | 113854 km  
All-burnt velocity | 10.5 km/sec  
  
### Description:

  * **Pioneer 1** consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone on each side. The cylinder was 74 cm in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the opposite cone was 76 cm. Along the axis of the spacecraft and protruding from the end of the lower cone was an 11 kg solid propellant injection rocket and rocket case, which formed the main structural member of the spacecraft. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the upper cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone. The shell was composed of laminated plastic. The total mass of the spacecraft after vernier separation was 34.2 kg, after injection rocket firing it would have been 23.2 kg. 

  * The scientific instrument package had a mass of 17.8 kg and consisted of an image scanning infrared television system to study the Moon's surface to a resolution of 1 milliradian, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a spin-coil magnetometer to measure magnetic fields to 5 microgauss, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at on 108.06 MHz through an electric dipole antenna for telemetry and doppler information at 300 mW and a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system at 50 W. Ground commands were received through the electric dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction was approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory.

Scientific Instruments:

  * 1) ionization chamber
  * 2) magnetometer
  * 3) micrometeoroid detector
  * 4) NOTS infrared imaging system
  * 5) temperature sensor

### Mission details:

  * Due to a launch vehicle malfunction, the spacecraft attained only a ballistic trajectory and didn’t reach the Moon. However, it did return data on the near-Earth space environment.
  * The spacecraft was launched on October 11, 1958 but it did not reach the Moon as planned due to a programming error in the upper stage causing a slight error in burnout velocity and angle (3.5 deg.). This resulted in a ballistic trajectory with a peak altitude of 113,800 km around 1300 local time. The real-time transmission was obtained for about 75% of the flight, but the percentage of data recorded for each experiment was variable. Except for the first hour of flight, the signal to noise ratio was good. It did return data on the near-Earth space environment. The spacecraft ended transmission when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere after 43 hours of flight on October 13, 1958 at 03:46 UT over the South Pacific Ocean. A small quantity of useful scientific information was returned, showing the radiation surrounding Earth was in the form of bands and measuring the extent of the bands, mapping the total ionizing flux, making the first observations of hydromagnetic oscillations of the magnetic field, and taking the first measurements of the density of micrometeorites and the interplanetary magnetic field.
  * First and second stages worked well, but a programming error in the solid fuel third stage burned for 8 seconds, resulting in insufficient velocity to escape the Earth's gravitational field.
  * Set distance record; attained 113854 km during 43 h 17 m flight.
  * Pioneer 1 returned data on the Van Allen Belt and micrometeorite impacts before re-entering Earth's atmosphere on Oct. 12, 1958.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Pioneer 1 consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone frustrum on each side. The cylinder was 74 cm in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the opposite cone was 76 cm. Along the axis of the spacecraft and protruding from the end of the lower cone was an 11 kg solid propellant injection rocket and rocket case, which formed the main structural member of the spacecraft. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the upper cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone. The shell was composed of laminated plastic. The total mass of the spacecraft after vernier separation was 34.2 kg, after injection rocket firing it would have been 23.2 kg.

The scientific instrument package had a mass of 17.8 kg and consisted of an image scanning infrared television system to study the Moon's surface to a resolution of 1 milliradian, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a spin-coil magnetometer to measure magnetic fields to 5 microgauss, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at on 108.06 MHz through an electric dipole antenna for telemetry and doppler information at 300 mW and a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system at 50 W. Ground commands were received through the electric dipole antenna at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction was approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory.

#### Mission Profile

The spacecraft did not reach the Moon as planned due to an incorrectly set valve in the upper stage which caused an accelerometer to give faulty information leading to a slight error in burnout velocity (the Thor second stage shut down 10 seconds early) and angle (3.5 degrees). This resulted in a ballistic trajectory with a peak altitude of 113,800 km around 1300 local time. The real-time transmission was obtained for about 75% of the flight, but the percentage of data recorded for each experiment was variable. Except for the first hour of flight, the signal to noise ratio was good. The spacecraft ended transmission when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere after 43 hours of flight on October 13, 1958 at 03:46 UT over the South Pacific Ocean. A small quantity of useful scientific information was returned, showing the radiation surrounding Earth was in the form of bands and measuring the extent of the bands, mapping the total ionizing flux, making the first observations of hydromagnetic oscillations of the magnetic field, and taking the first measurements of the density of micrometeorites and the interplanetary magnetic field.


	26. Luna E-1 #2

### Launch data:

Designation | F00043 / 58F17  
---|---  
Launch date | 11 Oct 1958 - 21:41:58 UT  
Launch site | B, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Vostok-L (8K72L - n°B1-4)  
Satellite type | Ye-1 #2  
Mission | Lunar impact  
Decay |  11 Oct 1958  
  
### Description:

Scientific Instruments:

  * three-component magnetometer
  * two gas-discharge counters
  * piezoelectric detector
  * scintillation counter
  * ion traps

### Mission details:

  * The second attempt to impact the Moon failed when, again, the probe never left Earth’s atmosphere.
  * 11 Oct 1958: E-1-2 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory.
  * The Soviets launched the Moon probe only hours after America's Pioneer-1 took off, hoping that their faster probe would be able to beat Pioneer-1 to the Moon.
  * The problem with adding upper stages to the basic ICBM produced longitudinal vibrations in the strap-on boosters, so that between 100 and 104 seconds after lift-off, the rocket disintegrated, showering the launch area with debris and burning metal.


	27. Beacon 1

## Launch data:

Designation |  F00047 / 58F18  
---|---  
Launch date |  23 Oct 1958 - 3:21:04 UT  
Launch site |  CC, LC-5  
Launch vehicle |  Jupiter C (Juno-1)  
Mission |  Technology: Atmosphere density  
Decay |  23 Oct 1958  
  
The major objective of the Beacon project was to place a 12-foot diameter inflatable sphere in orbit to study atmospheric density at various levels through visual observations. A secondary objective was to place a third stage instrumented payload casing in orbit. The Beacon 1 mission failed when the upper stages and payload separated from the Redstone first stage prior to first stage burnout.

#### Mission Profile

Beacon 1 launched on 24 October 1958 at 03:21 UT (23 October, 10:21 p.m. EST) from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida. At 112 seconds after launch, the Beacon payload broke away from the vehicle. Stages 2 and 3 broke off at 149.9 seconds. The payload fell into the Atlantic Ocean 424 seconds after launch. Total flight time for the first stage was 526 seconds.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

The inflatable 3.66 meter (12 ft) diameter sphere was made of laminated mylar polyester film, 1 mil (25 micrometers) thick, coated on both sides with a microthin (0.45 mil, 11 micrometer) aluminum foil and was uninstrumented. Uninflated, it folded into a cylindrical package with a mass of 4.2 kg (9.26 lbs). The package was held in the bottom of the payload casing, a stainless steel cylindrical shell, 18 cm (7 in) in diameter and 112 cm (44 in) long, mounted on top of the 4th stage motor. An ejection piston device with a 15-pound spring on top of the 4th stage motor was designed to push the payload casing away from the motor after burnout. Above the sphere package within the casing was a connecting valve, bellows, a pressurizing nitrogen bottle, and a squib-actuated valve to inflate the sphere. Above this was a 108.03 MHz, 50 mW phase-modulated Microlock beacon transmitter powered by 8 mercury batteries. Mounted in the top of the structure, covered by a blow-off nose cone, was a small 9-N (2 lb) solid-propellant apogee kick motor and timer. Total mass of the overall payload was about 16.3 kg (36 lbs wt)

#### Launch Vehicle

The four-stage Jupiter-C, first used for re-entry experiments, was adapted for the Beacon 1 launch and renamed Juno 1. The first stage was a Redstone missile A7 (liquid propellant Hydyne: 60% Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and 40% diethylenetriamine; and liquid oxygen) uprated to 370,000 N (83,000 pounds) of thrust, with a long interstage structure replacing the warhead. The second stage was assembled as a circumferential "tub" of 11 scaled-down Sergeant rockets (solid propellant), the third stage was assembled as three scaled-down Sergeant rockets nested in the center of the "tub", and a single modified Sergeant rocket and casing comprising the fourth stage was mounted on top of this. The three upper stages were rotated as a unit by electric motors before and during launch for attitude stabilization. Total height was 20.9 meters (68.6 ft).


	28. Pioneer 2

### Launch data:

Designation |  F00049 / 58F19  
---|---  
Launch date | 08 Nov 1958 - 7:30:21 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC-17A  
Launch vehicle |  [Thor-DM18 Able-1 ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58F19.htm)(#129/DM-1812-6)  
Mission | Lunar orbiter  
Decay | 08 Nov 1958  
  
### Description:

  * Pioneer 2 was nearly identical to Pioneer 1. It consisted of a thin cylindrical midsection with a squat truncated cone frustum on each side. The cylinder was 74 cm in diameter and the height from the top of one cone to the top of the opposite cone was 76 cm. Along the axis of the spacecraft and protruding from the end of the lower cone was an 11 kg solid propellant injection rocket and rocket case, which formed the main structural member of the spacecraft. Eight small low-thrust solid propellant velocity adjustment rockets were mounted on the end of the upper cone in a ring assembly which could be jettisoned after use. A magnetic dipole antenna also protruded from the top of the upper cone. The shell was composed of laminated plastic. The total mass of the spacecraft after vernier separation but before injection rocket firing was 39.5 kg.

  * The scientific instrument package had a mass of 15.6 kg (34.4 lb) and consisted of an STL image-scanning television system (which replaced the image scanning infrared television system on Pioneer 1), a proportional counter for radiation measurements, an ionization chamber to measure radiation in space, a diaphragm/microphone assembly to detect micrometeorites, a spin-coil magnetometer to measure magnetic fields to 5 microgauss, and temperature-variable resistors to record spacecraft internal conditions. The spacecraft was powered by nickel-cadmium batteries for ignition of the rockets, silver cell batteries for the television system, and mercury batteries for the remaining circuits. Radio transmission was at 108.06 MHz through a magnetic dipole antenna for the television system, telemetry, and doppler. Ground commands were received at 115 MHz. The spacecraft was to be spin stabilized at 1.8 rps, the spin direction approximately perpendicular to the geomagnetic meridian planes of the trajectory.

  
Scientific Instruments:

  * ionization chamber
  * magnetometer
  * temperature sensor
  * micrometeoroid sensor
  * proportional counter
  * imaging system

Shortly after launch, the third stage of the launch vehicle separated but failed to ignite, and Pioneer 2 didn’t achieve its intended lunar orbit. The spacecraft attained a maximum altitude of 1550 km (963 miles) before reentering Earth's atmosphere at 28.7 N, 1.9 E over NW Africa. A small amount of data was obtained during the short flight, including evidence that the equatorial region around Earth has higher flux and higher energy radiation than previously considered and that the micrometeorite density is higher around Earth than in space.


	29. Luna E-1 #3

## Launch data:

Designation | F00052 / 58F20  
---|---  
Launch date | 04 Dec 1958 - 17:18:44 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Vostok-L (8K72L - n°.B1-5)  
Satellite type | Ye-1 #3  
Mission | Lunar impact  
Decay |  04 Dec 1958  
  
### Description:

Scientific Instruments:

  * three-component magnetometer
  * two gas-discharge counters
  * piezoelectric detector
  * scintillation counter
  * ion traps

### Mission details:

  * 04 Dec 1958: Ye-1-3 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of direct ascent trajectory.
  * The third Soviet Moon rocket performed somewhat better than its two predecessors. This time the R7 first stage worked as planned.
  * Thwarted by a poor seal on the lubricant tank feding the gearbox of the hydrogen peroxide pump on the core stage of the rocket.
  * Once in space the low pressure sucked out the lubricant and the gear box failed. First core stage thrust fell by 70% at 245 sec into flight, then stopped completely, well before the planned 330 sec burn time. The rocket fell down-range in Siberia.
  * Later investigation showed that a pressurized seal cooling in the hydrogen peroxide pump of the main engine had lost integrity in vacuum conditions. The malfunction caused the main turbine to cease working and thus led to engine failure.


	30. Pioneer 3

### Launch data:

Designation | 00111 / 1958Theta 1 / 58008A  
---|---  
Launch date | 06 Dec 1958 - 5:44:52 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC-5  
Launch vehicle |  [Juno II ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58008.htm)(AM-11)  
Mission | Luner flyby  
Maximum distance  
from Earth | 102333 km  
Burnout velocity | 10,5 km/sec  
  
Pioneer 3 was a spin stabilized spacecraft launched by the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile agency in conjunction with NASA. The spacecraft failed to go past the Moon and into a heliocentric orbit as planned, but did reach a maximum altitude of over 102,000 km before falling back to Earth. The revised spacecraft objectives were to measure radiation in the outer Van Allen belt area using Geiger-Mueller tubes and to test the trigger mechanism for a lunar photographic experiment.

#### Spacecraft and Subsystems

Pioneer 3 was a cone-shaped probe 58 cm high and 25 cm diameter at its base. The cone was composed of a thin fiberglass shell coated with a gold wash to make it electrically conducting and painted with white stripes to maintain the temperature between 10 and 50 degrees C. At the tip of the cone was a small probe which combined with the cone itself to act as an antenna. At the base of the cone a ring of mercury batteries provided power. A photoelectric sensor protruded from the center of the ring. The sensor was designed with two photocells which would be triggered by the light of the Moon when the probe was within about 30,000 km of the Moon. At the center of the cone was a voltage supply tube and two Geiger-Mueller tubes. A transmitter with a mass of 0.5 kg delivered a phase-modulated signal of 0.1 W at a frequency of 960.05 MHz. The modulated carrier power was 0.08 W and the total effective radiated power 0.18 W. A despin mechanism consisted of two 7 gram weights which could be spooled out to the end of two 150 cm wires when triggered by a hydraulic timer 10 hours after launch. The weights would slow the spacecraft spin from 400 rpm to 6 rpm and then weights and wires would be released.

#### Mission Profile

The flight plan called for the Pioneer 3 probe to pass close to the Moon after 33.75 hours and then go into solar orbit. However, depletion of propellant caused the first stage engine to shut down 3.7 seconds early preventing the spacecraft from reaching escape velocity. The injection angle was also about 71 degrees instead of the planned 68 degrees. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 102,360 km (109,740 km from the center of the Earth) before falling back to Earth. It re-entered Earth's atmosphere and burned up over Africa on 7 December at approximately 19:51 UT (2:51 p.m. EST) at an estimated location of 16.4 N, 18.6 E. The probe returned telemetry for about 25 hours of its 38 hour 6 minute journey. The other 13 hours were blackout periods due to the location of the two tracking stations. The returned information showed that the internal temperature remained at about 43 degrees C over most of the period. The data obtained were of particular value since they indicated the existence of two distinct radiation belts.


	31. SCORE

## Launch data:

Designation |  00010 / 1958 Zeta 1 / 58006A  
---|---  
Launch date | 18 Dec 1958 - 23:02 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC11  
Launch vehicle |  [Atlas B ](http://weebau.com/lvpics/58006.htm)(#10B)  
Mission | Telecommunications  
Earth orbit on Dec 19, 1958:  
Perigee / Apogee |  185 x 1484 km  
Eccentricity |  0.090  
Inclination |  32.3 deg  
Period |  101.47 min  
  
The US Army's SCORE (Signal Communication by Orbiting RElay) satellite was an 80-ft long, 10-ft diam Atlas missile used as a platform for the communications relay experiment. The spacecraft body served as antennae. This satellite was to demonstrate the feasibility of, and explore problems associated with, operation of a satellite communication system. It carried messages on a tape recorder which was used at one point to carry a Christmas greeting from President Eisenhower. The performance was nominal with experiment operation for 12 days, planned orbit lifetime 20 days, actual orbit lifetime 35 days. The tracking beacon operated at 108 MHz.

The six-month effort was the first endeavor of the then-new ARPA headed by Roy Johnson, and proved that a small, highly focused and versatile research group with appropriate resources was an ideal method to achieve the scientific and technological advances necessary to succeed in the emerging global space race.

SCORE's technical objectives were two-fold. In addition to showing that an Atlas missile was capable of satellite payload launch, the payload itself was a hundred times more massive than any previous US satellite. The project demonstrated the feasibility of transmitting messages through the upper atmosphere from one ground station to one or more ground stations. The result of the project, which used real-time techniques, was a major scientific breakthrough which proved that active communications satellites could provide a means of transmitting messages from one point to any other on Earth.

The SCORE communications package was designed and built by Kenneth Masterman-Smith, a military communication research engineer, along with other personnel with the U.S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory (SRDL) at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. The overall project was conducted in such secrecy that only 88 people were aware of its existence. Before the date of the SCORE launch, 53 of the 88 people had been told the project had been canceled and they were not to mention to anyone that it had ever existed. That left only 35 people who knew of the mission of Atlas 10B with the rest of the engineering crew, including the launch crew, under the impression that they were working solely on a test launch of the rocket. The night before launch, however, Rear Adm. John E. Clark, deputy director of ARPA, was asked at a news conference whether he could deny that Eisenhower's voice was on the recorder. He replied, "No," and news reports that day suggested the voice might well be the president's.

The payload weighed 68 kg (150 pounds), and was built into the fairing pods of the Atlas missile. Combined weight of the total on-orbit package was 3969 kg (8750 pounds). SCORE was launched into a 183 km by 1,481 km (114 mile by 920 mile) orbit from LC-11 at Cape Canaveral Missile Test Annex, Florida, inclined 32.3 degrees, with a period of 101.5 minutes. Its batteries lasted 12 days and it reentered the atmosphere on 21 January 1959. The communications repeater installed on the missile would receive a signal, amplify it, and then retransmit it. Two redundant sets of equipment were mounted in the nose of the SCORE missile. Four antennas were mounted flush with the missile surface, two for transmission and two for reception. SCORE's other equipment included two tape recorders, each with a four-minute capacity. Any of four ground stations in the southern United States could command the satellite into playback mode to transmit the stored message or into record mode to receive and store a new message. These redundancies proved invaluable as one of the tape recorders malfunctioned and was rendered inoperable during the 12-day mission.

According to an official history of the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), SCORE was originally programmed to broadcast a voice message from Army Secretary Wilber M. Brucker. When the President learned this fact, hours before lift-off, he said he would like to provide the message. His tape-recording was hand-carried to Cape Canaveral, but by then the payload was locked and ready for launch. The ARPA program director decided to launch with the Army message, then erase it while in space, and upload the President's message to replace it. This effort was successful, and accordingly SCORE's transmitted message from space to Earth was as follows:

This is the President of the United States speaking. Through the marvels of scientific advance, my voice is coming to you from a satellite circling in outer space. My message is a simple one: Through this unique means I convey to you and to all mankind, America's wish for peace on Earth and goodwill toward men everywhere.

The broadcast signal for Eisenhower's greeting was fairly weak, and only very sensitive radio receivers were able to detect it. Most Americans heard the message as it was rebroadcast on commercial news programs.


	32. Luna 1

### Launch data:

Designation |  00112 / 1959Mu1 / 59001A  
---|---  
Launch date - time | 02 Jan 1959 - 16:41:21 UT  
Launch site | Baikonur, LC1  
Launch vehicle | Vostok-L (8K72L - nÂ°B1-6)  
Satellite type: | Ye-1 nÂ°4  
Mission | Lunar impact  
Heliocentric orbit (Solar orbit)  
---  
Perihelion x Aphelion | 0.978 x 1.318 A.U.  
Incl. to ecliptic | 0.01Â°  
Excentricity | 0.14767  
Semimajor axis | 1.146 AU  
Period (around the Sun) | 450 days  
Orbits | 37 (as of 2005)  
Lifetime | indef.  
  
The spacecraft was sphere-shaped. Five antennae extended from one hemisphere. Instrument ports also protruded from the surface of the sphere. There were no propulsion systems on the spacecraft itself. The spacecraft also included various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms.  
The spacecraft contained radio equipment, a tracking transmitter, and telemetering system, five different sets of scientific devices for studying interplanetary space, including a magnetometer, geiger counter, scintillation counter, and micrometeorite detector, and other equipment.   
Scientific Instruments:

  * three-component magnetometer
  * two gas-discharge counters
  *     * piezoelectric detector
    * scintillation counter
    * ion traps
|   
---|---  
  


### Mission details:

    * 02Jan 1959: Luna 1 (E-1-4) spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome by Vostok rocket on a mission to hit the Moon by way of a direct ascent trajectory, with the 1469 kg top stage and the 361,3 kg payload sphere of 1,2 m diameter, also called "Mechta" for "Dream".
    * The final stage burned too long and gave the probe too much velocity.  


Sodium cloud

| 

03 Jan 1959 (00:56): At a distance of 112700 kilometres from Earth, the upper stage of Luna 1 launching rocket releases a cloud of Sodium vapour, the glow from which is used to aid visual measurement of the trajectory - it is photographed from an observatory near Alma-Ata.  
The cloud was 100 km long, and confirmed the velocity at 40330 kph. This glowing orange trail of gas, visible over the Indian Ocean with the brightness of a sixth-magnitude star, allowed astronomers to track the spacecraft. It also served as an experiment on the behavior of gas in outer space.

      * 04 Jan 1959 (02:59): Luna 1 passes 5,995 km from the Moon (after 34 hours of flight) at a speed near 8,900 kilometres per hour and enters heliocentric orbit, thereby becoming the first artificial planet of the Sun.  
The measurements obtained during this mission provided new data on the Earth's radiation belt and outer space, including the discovery that the Moon had no magnetic field and that a solar wind, a strong flow of ionized plasma emmanating from the Sun, streamed through interplanetary space.
      * 04 Jan 1959 (06:00): Luna 1 is 426,700 kilometres from Earth and 60,400 kilometres beyond the Moon.
      * 04 Jan 1959 (19:00): Luna 1 is 513,285 kilometres from Earth.
      * 05 Jan 1959 (~07:00): Transmissions continued until 62 hours, when the batteries run out of power, at a distance of 597000 km. The on-board instruments detected no lunar magnetic field.
      * First lunar flyby and become the first man-made object to enter solar orbit with parameters of 193 200 000 by 146 670 000 km and period of 446 earth-days.
      * Lunar probe; passed within 5.995 km of moon but did not hit it as planned due to a failure of the launch vehicle control system. Went into solar orbit. **First manmade object to attain of escape velocity**. Because of its high velocity and its announced package of various metallic emblems with the Soviet coat of arms, it was concluded that Luna 1 was intended to impact the Moon. After reaching escape velocity, Luna 1 separated from its 1472 kg third stage. The third stage, 5.2 m long and 2.4 m in diameter, travelled along with Luna 1.  
---|---


	33. Vanguard 2

Designation |  00011 / 1959 Alpha 1 / 59001A  
---|---  
Launch date | 17 Feb 1959 - 15:55 UT  
Launch site | CC, LC18A  
Launch vehicle | [Vanguard SLV-4](http://weebau.com/lvpics/59001.htm)  
Satellite type | 20in Cloud cover #2  
Mission | Scientific: high atmosphere study  
Earth orbit on Feb 17, 1959:  
Perigee/Apogee | 559 x 3320 km  
Eccentricity |  0.166  
Inclination | 32,88°  
Period | 125,70 min  
Earth orbit on May 23, 2000 (.23):  
Perigee / Apogee |  554 x 3018 km  
Eccentricity |  0.151  
Inclination |  32,86°  
Period |  122,35 min  
  
### Spacecraft data:

| Prime contractor |   
---|---  
Operator |  NASA  
Platform |   
Mass at launch |  9.8 kg  
Dry Mass |  kg  
Basic shape |  Magnesium Sphere  
Dimension |  50.8 cm dia (0.81 dia - ref206)  
Design lifetime |  150 years  
  
### Mission details:

Vanguard SLV-3 and Vanguard 2 were earth-orbiting satellites designed to measure cloud-cover distribution over the daylight portion of its orbit. The spacecraft was a magnesium sphere 50.8 cm in diameter. It contained two optical telescopes with two photocells. The sphere was internally gold-plated and externally covered with an aluminum deposit coated with silicon oxide of sufficient thickness to provide thermal control for the instrumentation. Radio communication was provided by a 1 W, 108.03 MHz telemetry transmitter and a 10 mW, 108 MHz beacon transmitter that sent a continuous signal for tracking purposes. A command receiver was used to activate a tape recorder that relayed experiment data to the telemetry transmitter. Both transmitters functioned normally for 19 days. The satellite was spin stabilized at 50 rpm, but telemetry data reception was poor because of an unsatisfactory orientation of the spin axis. The power supply for the instrumentation was provided by mercury batteries.

#### Mission Profile

Vanguard 2 launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 17 February 1959 at 15:55:02 UT (10:55:02 a.m. EST). Launch and 2nd and 3rd stage firings were nominal. After third stage firing was complete, the satellite separated from the stage, injected into orbit at 16:04:38 at an altitude of 555 km (345 mi). Telemetered data indicated that immediately following separation of the satellite from the third stage, remnants of solid propellant in the third stage ignited, causing it to overtake and 'nudge' the satellite, instigating a precessing (wobbling) motion in the spin axis. Telemetry data were poor because of this unsatisfactory wobble in the satellite's spin. The 21.3 kg (47 lb) burned-out third stage also went into orbit. The satellite went into an initial 559 x 3320 km (347 x 2063 mile), 125.8 minute orbit with an inclination of 32.88 degrees. The telemetry transmitter functioned for 23 days, but the cloud cover data were severely degraded by the spin axis wobble. The Minitrack beacon transmitter operated for 26 days through March 15, during which 244 prime Minitrack observations were made. After the batteries ran down the satellite was still being optically tracked from Earth for studies of atmospheric drag and the gravity field. The Vanguard 2 satellite has an expected total orbital lifetime of 200 to 300 years.


	34. Discoverer 1

### Launch data:

Designation |  00013 / 1959Beta 1 / 59003A  
---|---  
Launch date | 28 Feb 1959 - 21:49:16 UT  
Launch site | Va, LC75-3 pad 4  
Launch vehicle |  [Thor-DM18 Agena A](http://weebau.com/lvpics/59002.htm)(#163)  
Mission |  Military: surveillance  
Polar Earth orbit on 28 Feb 1959:  
Perigee / Apogee |  163? / 968? km  
Inclination |  89,7?°  
Period |  96 min  
  
## Mission details:

  * Discoverer 1 was a test of the performance capabilities of the propulsion and guidance system of the booster and satellite. It was the first of a series of satellites which were part of the Corona reconnaissance satellite program. Launch took place from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a Thor-Agena A (1e launch). After first stage burnout at 28529 km/hr the rocket coasted to orbital altitude where the second stage guidance system oriented the spacecraft by means of pneumatic nitrogen jets. The second stage engine ignited when the correct attitude was achieved, putting the spacecraft into a polar orbit where it remained until re-entry on 17 March 1959. Discoverer 1 became the first man-made object ever put into a polar orbit. Difficulty was encountered receiving signals after launch, but the satellite broadcast intermittently later in the flight.
  * Discoverer 1 was a 5.73 m long, 1.52 m diameter cylindrical Agena A upper stage capped by a conical nosecone. The satellite casing was made of magnesium. Most of the 18 kg payload, consisting of communication and telemetry equipment, was housed in the nosecone. It included a high-frequency low-power beacon transmitter for tracking and a radar beacon transmitter with a transponder to receive command signals and allow long-range radar tracking. Fifteen telemetry channels (10 continuous and 5 commuted) were used to relay roughly 100 aspects of spacecraft performance.
  * It was a prototype of the KH-1 satellite, but didn't contain either a camera or a film capsule.

## Decay:

Descent date: | 01 Mar 1959 (5 Mar 1959 ?)  
---|---  
Lifetime: |  5 days ?


End file.
